December 2011

A local news station in Palm Beach Florida reports that a fire broke out yesterday on a Palm Beach-based cruise ship in the Bahamas.

WPBF Channel 25 reports that the fire occurred Bahamas Celebration cruise ship.  The cruise ship operates between Palm Beach and Freeport, Bahamas.  According to Wikipedia, the cruise ship is available for cruises to be purchased directly

Scotch Bonnett - Sun Princess Cruise ShipYesterday the Sun Princess cruise ship responded to a disabled sailing yacht in the middle of the Tasman Sea.

The Tasman Sea is a wide body of water measuring some 1,200 miles across, between Australia and New Zealand. 

According to the Ballina Shire Advocate, the vessel, named the Scotch Bonnet, was adrift when it was located

This weekend I clicked on Royal Caribbean’s website to read the cruise line president’s "Why Not?" blog which is on the cruise line website called the "Nation of Why Not." 

Royal Caribbean's Nation of Why Not?Believe it or not, I like reading what cruise line CEO’s write about.   It’s interesting to me to see the disconnect between the usually mundane things the cruise

The Telegraph in the U.K. has an interesting article this weekend – "Cruise Ships Could Be Shut Out of Venice Over Erosion Fears."

The article points out that environmentalists and heritage groups have long complained that mammoth cruise ships plow through the shallow Venetian lagoon and damage the fragile canal banks, wooden piles and mud

The Centers for Disease Control ("CDC") report that 118 of the 2,730 passengers aboard the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship have reported to the ship’s medical facility with vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms of gastrointestinal illness.

The Solstice is currently on a 14 day cruise and will return to Fort Lauderdale on December 11, 2011.

Pursuant to the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program, environmental health

Yesterday there were multiple news accounts of the sentencing of Carnival cruise passenger, Robert McGill, to life in jail for the brutal murder of his wife aboard the Elation cruise ship.

The crime occurred after McGill reportedly drank a half bottle of Mezcal and seven or eight beers while ashore in Cabo San Lucas.  The Southwest

Robert McGill - Murder - Carnival Elation Cruise ShipA life sentence in jail was imposed today on a cruise passenger by a Federal District Judge for a murder on a cruise ship which occurred two years ago. 

In July 2009, Robert and Shirley McGill cruised to Cabo San Lucas aboard the Carnival Elation cruise ship to celebrate Mr. McGill’s 55th birthday and his wife’s retirement.  

But following

Afraid of your cruise vacation ruined by a nasty bout of diarrhea and vomiting?

There may be hope for you.   

Cruise Ship Virus - Norovirus - Passenger SicknessWebMD and a few other medical journals report that there have been promising results from the tests of an experimental vaccine designed to prevent infection and symptoms associated with  norovirus.

WebMD explains that researchers sprayed the experimental vaccine in the noses of 47

Cruise Passenger Drowns - Cayman IslandsToday the Cayman News Service reports that yesterday afternoon a seventy one year old cruise passenger was found dead in the water near an area referred to as the "Sand Bar."  This is a popular location where tourists can swim in shallow water near stingrays.

Police have identified the cruise ship passenger as Mr. Samir Rizk of Raleigh, North Carolina.

According to

A news station in California is reporting that a woman is dead after falling around 75 feet from the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor Monday evening.

KABC News in Long Beach states that the woman "fell off a walkway" around 8:30 p.m. yesterday evening and plunged into the water below.

Another person jumped into the water to try and rescue the

Newspapers in Hawaii are reporting today that a twenty-seven year cruise ship employee was pulled from the water at Kalapaki Beach this afternoon.

The local police are saying that bystanders brought the man to shore and administered CPR.  Paramedics later continued CPR after arriving on the scene, and transported the crew member to Wilcox Hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.

The crew

CBC News in Canada published a story this week about cruise passenger Bernie Hamilton, age 66, who died following a Holland America Line ("HAL") cruise due to what sounds like a series of errors by the ship’s medical personnel.  The article is entitled "Cruise Death Prompts Warning on Ships’ Medical Care."  

I have heard these stories time after time over the

The Virgin Islands Daily News reports today that the U.S. Coast Guard continues to investigate the  fatal parasailing accident in St. Thomas which killed a Celebrity Cruises passenger and seriously injured her daughter on November 15, 2011.

We discussed this incident in our article Celebrity Cruises Passenger Killed in Parasailng Accident in St. Thomas.

The incidents resulted

Newspapers in Bermuda are reporting today that two American women admitted plotting to import more than $400,000 of cannabis resin on a cruise ship into Bermuda.

In early October of this year, the Bermuda authorities arrested Alloah Jatan Releford, age 23, from Temple, Georgia, and Latoya Nicole Powell, age 27, from Marietta, Georgia. They had sailed from